Pinterest captive

While I apologize for lack of posts....I do have a really good excuse. I have been held captive by Pinterest (and if we are being honest - my family and work have something to do with my lack of blogging too!).

I am officially hooked. If you haven't heard of it or checked it out yet - I highly recommend. It is my go to now if I need a recipe or craft idea or decor inspiration or even something fun to do with the kiddos!

Google Shmoogle - I Pinterest it!

As I gleefully collect a plethora of fab ideas on my boards, I also have been trying them out!! Crazy, I know!

Here are a few that I have tried and loved!

Hot Cocoa Cookies - If you love chocolate and still need another batch of cookies for the holidays. Drop what you are doing and go make these. So delish and GORGEOUS on a plate! I added crushed candy cane to top mine - so much more festive and loved the hint of mint with the chocolate madness going on!

Fort Kit - I made this for a girlfriend's little boys for their birthday. It was a hit. I photo-documented it, and will post more on this cool idea later!

Handmade Bejeweled Bookmarks - I made a batch of these beauties to give as teacher gifts (my daughter has FOUR preschool teachers and TWO daycare providers!). I used red and black velvet ribbon and some gorgeous baubles I scored at Walmart! Each bookmark cost me $2.50 to make - yet they look very luxe!

Christmas Tree Tomato Cages - Can you give me a "WHAAAT!". Who are these brilliant people!! I made three of these for my front yard. They look great and took all of five minutes to complete.

Hope these gave you some inspiration to either check out Pinterest, make something, or just add more to your boards! LOL!

happy halloween!

I love Halloween! I love the creativity and silliness of it all...I am really just a big kid.
I found this site last year and have made a few of these snacks for daycare Halloween parties as well as adapted them to make a spoooooky Halloween dinner before heading out trick or treating!
I have great success with these ideas. This year I am making the Salty Bones to accompany our "guts" dinner (spaghetti) and Cheese Fingers for lunch.

Hope you find some inspiration and try a couple of these for your little goblins to munch on today!!
Find some great Halloween Snacks HERE

a new toy

I think if I had the chance I would go back to school and become a graphic designer. Not that I am an artist in any shape or form... actually using the term "artist" to describe my abilities may offend some.....but I do love the look and playing with digital design! My new obsession is picnik.com. It is a free (or low price - $20ish a year) online photo editing program. Now I know I said digital design, not photo editing, but with a few tips you too can be printing off some amazing labels, cards, signs, tags, etc.

I followed this tutorial at saltwater kids and was quickly hooked! It has it's limitations, but hey it's free!!!

I am putting together halloween treat bags for my neighbourhood kids. I used my newly acquired Picnik skills to create the tags for the bags. Each "picture" is three tags, so an economic and less wasteful choice!

Feel free to print these off for yourself if you like and don't want to spend the time making them!!